Apr 1, 2014

An alleged leak from Foxconn would suggest that Apple’s iPhone 6 will not sport a radical redesign, as many fans hoped, but rather a few minor aesthetic changes, along with a bigger screen and rounded edges.

Assuming these images leaked on weibo.com are genuine, it appears that the next-generation iPhone will have a similar design to the current-selling hardware, something that might spell trouble for Apple, (as we opined recently). The device seems to be constructed from metal (aluminum, most likely) and there will be two radio / WiFi windows on the back of the phone, as with the current iPhone 5s. Again, these images cannot be verified, but their source claims to have obtained them straight from Foxconn, Apple’s assembler. The phone appears to be a lot thinner, which may help it project a sense of major redesign. The back shell appears to be slightly tapered around the edges, and the camera module seems to stick out of the case, in what would suggest a design compromise to enable a more powerful camera in a thinner chassis. Apple has done the same with the fifth-generation iPod touch. Various design mockups from artists around the world have portrayed the iPhone 6 as a bigger iPod touch. This leak certainly lends credence to that vision, but Apple might need more oomph to keep unconvinced customers from jumping ship (to Android).

The purported Foxconn leak includes an image that depicts a schematic, along with precise measurements for what would appear to be assembly instructions from the California giant. According to one of the images, the headphone jack is being moved closer to the Lightning port, and one of the speaker/mic grills is no longer there. Nothing is being said about the screen size (or at least nothing can be made out from the low-resolution photos), but the phone presumably has a larger display that goes beyond the 4.5-inch mark (on the diagonal). Apple is rumored to launch not one, but two versions of the iPhone 6, one of which actually has an even bigger screen, measuring over 5.5-inches on the diagonal. All in all this seems to be a credible leak, but a disappointing one at that for customers hoping to see a completely reimagined iPhone this time around. As we noted in our editorial this weekend, Apple might also need to change the face of its smartphone, not just the enclosure.